The House has passed the “Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010″ (PDF), which does exactly what its name would lead you to believe.

Under the bill, it becomes illegal “to cause any caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information, with the intent to defraud and deceive.” The bill maintains an exemption for blocking one’s own outgoing caller ID information, and law enforcement isn’t affected.

A recent survey conducted by KPMG has claimed that telecoms operators are losing US$40 billion due to numerous errors in their billing and roaming systems. The accountancy and consulting firm have called for service providers to look at developing more effective automated revenue assurance tools, increase the awareness of revenue assurance within their companies, and work on obtaining accurate data to rectify the issue.

If you worry that Apple Inc’s new iPad will slow down Web surfing on AT&T Inc’s mobile network or cause even more dropped cellphone calls, analysts say you should rest easy.

Later this month, Apple will introduce a version of the iPad tablet computer that can surf the Web on the go using AT&T’s third generation (3G) mobile network. The current iPad, which went on sale this weekend and drew big crowds, works only on short range Wi-Fi connections like those found in cafes.

Some fear that should the 3G version of the iPad prove a blockbuster hit, it could test AT&T’s network, already under severe strain in some markets from heavy iPhone Web usage.

AT&T has said it is now investing heavily to upgrade its network and spokesman Mark Siegel added that it has “of course factored the iPad into its network planning.”

But some worry that thousands of new iPad users could spend even more time than iPhone users downloading movies, buying books, or surfing the Web on AT&T’s 3G network.

But several analysts said worries were overblown, even after a strong debut by the first iPad model. More than 300,000 of them sold on Saturday, surpassing some forecasts.

“There’s a lot of worry and it makes for good reading to say it will have an impact. But I think not,” said UBS analyst John Hodulik, who expects sales of iPad 3G to be less than half the sales of the first version of the device.

BERLIN — A decade ago, mobile phone network operators in Europe rushed to spend billions for the chance to provide high-speed wireless connections for clients.

Ten years later, as auctions for government licenses to upgrade those networks are set to begin, operators are considerably less excited. Instead of the €50 billion, or $68 billion, spent in 2000, they are expected to bid about €5 billion at an auction that is to start April 12 in Germany.

The restraint reflects the general economic downturn, but also the recognition that quantum leaps in wireless speed alone no longer guarantee success for operators, which are confronting saturated and static markets in Europe.

“The market is in a different phase of development than it was a decade ago,” said Jeanette Dobson, an analyst at Analysys Mason in Edinburgh, who studied the issue for the European Commission. “Back then, the mobile industry was relatively untapped and we were in the midst of the dot-com era.”

Operators paid as much as €4 billion for a license in the German auction a decade ago, only to have to wait more than five years for equipment makers to create the services and devices that would work on the the network. The new networks are expected to triple the speed of existing broadband connections and will require similar upgrades.

In a statement BT said it could not predict when either service would be restored.

“Tens of thousands” of customers have been affected, said the firm, with the majority in north and west London.

BT confirmed that some mobile phone services may be affected by the incident, which also caused a fire.

Egypt has begun enforcing a ban on international calls made through mobile internet connections, the head of the telcoms regulator told Reuters on Tuesday, potentially boosting voice revenues at landline monopoly Telecom Egypt.

The ban will apply to the three mobile operators in Egypt — Mobinil, Etisalat Egypt and Vodafone Egypt — who offer internet access for computers via USB and other mobile modems, as well as via mobile phone.

“The ban is on Skype on mobile internet, not on fixed, and this is due to the fact it is against the law since it bypasses the legal gateway,” said Amr Badawy, the executive president of the National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA).

China Mobile’s 3G outlook will take center stage this week as China’s three telecoms carriers begin to kick off quarterly results, with market focus on whether the nation’s dominant player will turn up the volume in its low-key 3G roll-out.

China Mobile and its two rivals, China Unicom and China Telecom, spent $21 billion building out third generation (3G) mobile networks last year, following the long-awaited but much-delayed awarding of 3G licenses.

The trio signed up a combined 10 million 3G subscribers by the end of last year, with China Mobile accounting for about a third of those — well below its overall position with a dominant 72 percent of China’s mobile market.

Les partenaires collaboreront en vue de multiplier le nombre de services Orange portés sur cette plate-forme qui vise le marché des mobiles, mais aussi des netbooks, des TV connectées…
MeeGo commence à prendre du relief. Ce nouvel OS mobile a été présenté lors du dernier Mobile World Congress. Il s’agit en fait de la première concrétisation de l’accord passé entre Intel et Nokia en juin 2009. MeeGo est donc une plate-forme issue de la fusion de Moblin d’Intel, une distribution Linux basée sur Fedora et conçue pour les terminaux mobiles de petite taille, et de Maemo, le système d’exploitation dérivé de Linux conçu par Nokia qui équipe le N900.

Ce système sera “ouvert” à tous les fabricants et développeurs, et donc gratuit. Surtout, il pourra être utilisé dans toute une gamme d’appareils: smartphones haut de gamme, mini-PC, tablettes, télévisions connectées à internet, ou encore systèmes embarqués dans les véhicules.

Mobile phone operators must now limit how much they charge customers for using the Internet within the European Union, after new rules went into effect Monday.
Customers have until July 1 to set a maximum monthly cost with their network, and those who do not will by default have a €50 ($68) limit set.

The European Commission has cleared the proposed merger of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK.
The decision is conditional upon a network sharing agreement with 3 and the divestment of 25% of the combined 1800MHz band by the merged entity.